from Hacker News

Connecting a Portable Generator to the Home Main Electric Panel

by hourislate on 2/14/22, 9:00 PM with 12 comments

• by CapitalistCartr on 2/14/22, 11:04 PM

  When doing this, homeowners invariable seem to "reinvent" suicide cords, a short cord with two male ends. DO NOT DO THIS. No matter how sure you are that you're too smart to mess up. Or too calm. Or whatever. Pay the money, use a transfer switch. Or interlock kit. But preferably a transfer switch. They are pretty idiot proof.

• by klondike_ on 2/15/22, 9:19 AM

  >I chose the Square D Circuit Breaker, 60 Amp, 2-Pole, QO260 instead of the QO230CP QO 30-Amp Two-Pole Circuit Breaker because the price difference was negligible and I always liked the concept of over-sizing specifications.

  Big mistake! The breakers in your service panel are to protect your wiring from overheating by drawing too much current. The 10ga wire he used is only rated for 30A, so it should be on a 30A breaker. Having more current than that could melt the cable or damage the generator. Bigger isn't always better when it comes to circuit breakers

• by SOLAR_FIELDS on 2/15/22, 2:58 AM

  I recently paid an electrician to do the exact work discussed in the article on my home in Austin, TX. Total cost for installation of the inlet, 50 amp breaker, and interlock kit as well as a 25 foot heavy duty cable with 6-50P that hooked my generator up to the inlet was about $1K.

  A 8500W sustained 11000W surge generator from Northern Tool that’s enough to power my whole house for 3 days or so with two 5 gallon jerry cans was another $1300.

  If you do go generator shopping, sizing is important, but it’s also important to look for a generator with low Total Harmonic Distortion (<5%) if you plan to use it in your house else your sensitive electronic devices may be damaged. Surprisingly, a large majority of generators on the market, including the ones sold by Costco, don’t have low THD. GeneratorBible website is a good resource for comparison shopping and education.

  We mainly made the purchase for peace of mind after last year’s “incident” (even knowing that it was a once in 30 year storm).

  Transfer switches are another alternative, but are more expensive and can only handle the 4-6 breakers you assign to them. Interlock kits can use any breaker. So at higher expense you get less functionality in exchange for a solution that is slightly more foolproof.

• by maxerickson on 2/15/22, 12:37 PM

  Anybody have a http://www.generlink.com/ installed?

  It's a transfer switch that installs behind the meter, so not a lot of work to enable selecting loads using the main panel.

  I guess it is comparatively expensive for the load it supports (my use case would be the furnace and some lights though).